Waste of a Young Heart
by gertie-flirty
Summary: Asami has always been a fighter, and doesn't give up when things get tough. When Iroh asks her to help train him and the others in non-bending defense techniques, she begins to realize her own worth and how it affects her relationships with others.


Asami could always fight her own fights.

When she was six years old, she went to school dressed, properly as always, in the school uniform. But she had tossed a silk scarf around her neck and paired it with magenta boots. Lao Shin, a pudgy boy who looked like a dograt, made a comment about her being prissy and tried to take her scarf away. She had landed a solid punch on his chin and had started to shove the scarf down his throat before a teacher pulled her off of him. Punishment had followed pretty swiftly, but she didn't apologize. She was strong enough to handle anything that came her way.

That's what she told herself, anyway. Once, she had told one boy that he made her feel safe.

Never again.

She wasn't entirely sure why she went back to Air Temple Island with everyone after they left the South Pole. After all, her house was no longer being investigated. She could go back. Change it. It was where she grew up after all.

Just thinking about it made her feel sick. The secrets her father had kept, and everything that had went on under her feet still made her nervous.

So she went to Air Temple Island. She adored Tenzin's and Pema's children, and Bolin tried to cheer her up in his own goofy way. Mako and Korra, to their credit, tried not to flaunt the fact they were together in front of her. But she could tell. It was the way they would stand a little too close to each other, or the way they would look at each other and smile in a silly way.

And she still wanted to be friends with Korra. She never had very many friends growing up, and virtually no female friends. Asami found Korra and herself to be so similar. They were both assertive and straightforward. They were both willing to fight for themselves and what was important to them. Maybe she could make a start of a friendship with her again.

In the morning, Asami told herself the first night they came back. In the morning, I'll fix everything.

The sun rose early, and Asami rose with it. As she lightly padded around the sprawling house, she was amazed to find every other person in it was still asleep.

"I guess the Air Nomads weren't morning people," she whispered to herself as she stepped into the bathroom. When she was finished, she changed into a training outfit consisting of a short-sleeved undershirt and loose pants. She tied up her hair in a high ponytail and headed out into a small exercise yard. It was enclosed on all sides by parts of the house. There were a few straw-stuffed training dummies on wooden poles just perfect for beating the heck out of. She grinned and got to work.

Nearly two hours passed before any sounds of people moving around began to emanate from the house. Asami paused in the middle of her workout and stretched her arms above her head. Her stomach let out a huge growl and she realized she was starving.

She rushed to the dining room where everyone was already gathered around the table. Sitting down next to Korra, she gave her a small smile that Korra returned awkwardly. Asami looked around the rest of the table. Korra was sitting at a corner, with Mako next to her on the adjacent side. Bolin was next to his brother, and next to him was Tenzin. On the far end of the table across from the table Pema sat with baby Rohan, wiggling a soft toy in front of his face. On the right side of the table were Ikki, and Meelo, arranged by height. But next to them was Bumi, Tenzin's brother and the Commander from the United Forces. Asami wasn't expecting him to still be here at Air Temple Island, but she also wasn't expecting the last person at the table sitting next to her. General Iroh. Squeezed between General Iroh and Bumi was Jinora, who was looking up at General Iroh with large, dreamy eyes.

Asami had to admit he cut a dashing figure. He was wearing his uniform, starched and pressed. This was a contrast to the relaxed way Bumi wore his own uniform, partly unfastened and slouching a bit.

"Asami, you were working out this early in the morning?" Korra asked in amazement.

"She's dedicated. You could learn a thing or two from her, Korra," Tenzin remarked as he brought a mouthful of rice up from his bowl.

"She already has. Like—OW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" Bolin cried, no doubt responding to an under-the-table pinch from Mako.

After shooting a quick glare at both brothers, Korra turned to Asami and said, "Actually, Asami, I'd love to train with you. You're the only one of us who never lost to an Equalist in a fight."

"Really? Well, I'm not a bender, but my hand-to-hand is pretty good."

"Another non-bender? Finally!" Bumi let out a whoop and slapped the table in excitement. The plates and bowls all wobbled slightly. "We can show this group of fancy-pants a little what-for, huh?"

Tenzin sighed. "Bumi, please—"

"It's not such a bad idea," General Iroh said in a quiet voice. The others around the table fell silent and turned to look at him. "The truth of the matter is, all of us came quite close to losing our bending. We weren't prepared to fight those who weren't like us and I had quite a few close calls myself." He turned to Asami. Pressing a closed fist to his other open palm, he bowed his head slightly and said, "I would be honored if you were to train us, Miss Sato."

Asami felt her face grow slightly warm. "Well, okay, I—"

"How come you never asked me to train you?" asked Bumi loudly, resting an elbow on Iroh's bowed back. "I'm strong, I'm brave, I'm a fighter!" He flexed one of his arms, which Meelo grabbed ahold of with both hands. Bumi laughed and lifted his nephew up and down easily.

"Uncle Bumi's the strongest man in the world!" Meelo shouted as he bounced up and down.

"You got that right, kid!"

Iroh finally shook off Bumi's other elbow. He straightened his lapels and cleared his throat. "Technically, I am your superior. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to—"

"I get it," said Bumi, leaning in closely to Iroh over Jinora. "You don't want to take lessons from an ugly old man like me. You want to be taught by a pretty lady."

"Yeah, a pretty lady!" Meelo echoed, climbing on top of Bumi's head.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Iroh snapped in annoyance.

"You don't think she's pretty?" asked Jinora.

"No!" cried Iroh. "I mean, yes, I mean—"

"I think you're pretty Asami," said Meelo. A small puff of air escaped his behind and he used it to propel himself into Asami's arms. She caught him, letting out a small huff.

"Thank you, Meelo," said Asami, patting his head.

"Do you think I'm pretty, General Iroh?" Jinora asked, sitting up straight.

"Jinora!" yelled Tenzin.

"How about everybody calm down and finish their breakfast?" Mako interjected. "Then we can all go outside and have Asami and Bumi give us a lesson."

Everyone mumbled something in agreement and resumed eating.

Asami was a bit worried. All of these skilled benders wanted to learn from her. It was all rather daunting. Maybe she could just pay for them all to take lessons from her old teachers. She looked over at General Iroh, who seemed to be looking rather pointedly at the table. He would probably have to take his uniform off in order to train.

Asami was okay with that.

"All right, is everyone ready?"

Asami and Bumi stood in front of the line of benders, who had arranged themselves by height, with Iroh at the far end and little Meelo down at the other one. Tenzin and Pema sat on the porch with baby Rohan, ready to cheer on the others.

No one answered.

"Hey, punks! The lady asked you a question!" Bumi bellowed, causing everyone's backs to snap straight simultaneously. "Now, is everyone ready?!"

"Sir, yes sirs" and "ma'am yes ma'ams" mixed together, and some of the benders gave a salute.

"All right then," Bumi said. He turned his body to the side and spread his legs to a little further than shoulder width apart. He drew one hand back into a closed fist and raised the other one. "Come on."

Nobody moved.

"Come on," Bumi repeated, gesturing with his open palm.

"All of us at once, or-?" Korra asked.

"YES."

"No!" cried Asami, just as everyone was beginning to assume their own battle stances. "No, that's not going to be helpful."

"The best way to teach someone to swim is to throw them in the pool," Bumi said, clapping his hands together.

"But the children—"

"We can handle ourselves," said Ikki.

"Yeah!" shouted Meelo. "ATTACK!"

The three airbending children ran toward their uncle, summoning gusts of air. Bumi managed to dodge Jinora's initial attack, but Ikki and Meelo each grabbed one of his legs and brought him toppling to the ground. They began to drag him off, with him trying to put up a fight that wouldn't harm the smaller children.

Asami sighed and turned around to look at Iroh, Mako, Bolin, and Korra. "How about I just show you guys some basic stuff?"

"Sounds good," said Korra. "Where do you want to start?"

"Well, General Iroh? Would you like to help?"

"Me?" He pointed to himself in surprise.

"Sure," said Asami. "Give me everything you've got."

"Whoooooooooooooo," said Bolin, cupping his hands around his mouth. Mako elbowed him sharply in the stomach.

"Very well," said Iroh, unfastening his jacket and tossing it aside. He had on a form fitting white undershirt that showed off his muscles quite well.

"Nice," said Korra and Bolin simultaneously, earning them both a consternated look from Mako.

Asami couldn't stop herself from smiling. "Whenever you're ready."

General Iroh looked a bit wary. After a moment, his facial expression changed. His eyebrows shifted down slightly and his jaw set. He put a small amount of his weight on his back foot, then charged forward.

Asami didn't move until Iroh was less than a foot away. He jumped up, a trail of flame following one of his legs as he kicked towards her head. She smoothly ducked underneath it, coming up behind him and landing a punch in the small of his back as he landed. He stumbled and turned quickly, releasing another puff of flame from his fist as swung a wide punch in her direction. Instead of ducking as she had previously, which he was expecting, she leaped upwards, putting her hands on his shoulders to proper herself higher as she executed a smooth backflip over him. Their eyes met right as she reached her apex and their bodies became vertical to each other. A complete look of surprise was on his face as she smiled and winked. She twisted her body and landed behind him, facing his back. Before he could turn, she landed a series of light punches on his spine and he fell to his knees, shaking slightly. Asami turned and stepped away, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"That was awesome!" yelled Bolin, throwing both hands high in the air.

"Indeed it was, Miss Sato," General Iroh said, rising to his feet and clutching his side.

"It's your own fault," said Asami. "You weren't actually trying to hit me. All your moves were too wide."

"I—" He raised his eyebrows and smiled. "You're right. Forgive me." He pressed his closed right fist to the heel of his left hand and bowed.

"My turn, my turn!" cried Bolin.

"Wait," said Korra. "I need to know what happened, and how to do it."

"The first rule is never underestimate your opponent," Asami said, looking at Iroh. A sheepish grin crossed his face. "And always try to catch them by surprise."

"AUREEAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH"

Asami barely had time to turn around as a small, lumpy shape barreled past her head followed by a strong gust of wind. Meelo kept flying forward until he collided with Bolin's stomach, knocking him backwards several feet until he hit a post on the porch. The wood cracked slightly at the force of the impact.

"Almost, Meelo!" Bumi came running up and patted Asami on the back. "I saw what you did to the General. Knocked him right on his rump!"

"Right on his rump!" Meelo echoed, leaping in the air.

"How'd you like that, General?" Bumi threw his arms over Iroh's back, causing him to lean forward severely at the waist. "Getting beaten by a civilian?"

"Miss Sato is a worthy opponent," Iroh grunted.

"She sure beat you up," said Ikki, leaping on top of Bumi's shoulders. This caused both Bumi and Iroh to lose their balance and stagger forward.

"Ikki, get down from there!" Jinora tried to tug on her sister's leg, but this just led to the two men and the girl to veer to the left.

"DOGPILE!" cried Meelo, launching himself upwards. He came down straight on Ikki's back, leading to the whole group falling over and landing in a giant pile. General Iroh was on the bottom, squirming futilely, and Meelo was on the top, enjoying his position as a king does a throne.

Everyone watching burst into heavy laughter, even Tenzin and Pema watching from the porch. Asami wasn't sure she'd ever be able to finish the lesson.

Lunch was a little late that day, and most of the others had several errands in the late afternoon. Asami took her sandwich to a little alcove outside where there was a stone bench situated next to a lovely koi pond. Normally, she loved the liveliness of the mealtimes on the island. Growing up it had usually only been her and her dad, and sometimes he was so busy she ended up eating in the kitchen with whatever cook was working there that month. Her father was such a perfectionist that the turnover rate for their house staff was incredibly high. Here with Tenzin's family, she felt comforted by the nose and bustle of so many people. Sometimes they even ate in the big dining hall with all of the acolytes and White Lotus, making the conversations louder and more ribald. Today was so beautiful, though, she felt like spending some peaceful time outside.

She took a huge bite of her sandwich, pleased that no one could see her.

"May I sit here?"

Asami looked up. Behind her was General Iroh, standing in a way that caused the sun to outline his face like an angelic halo. With her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk and full of food, she barely was able to reply, "Uh-huh."

He smiled graciously and jumped over the back of the bench smoothly and took a seat.

Show-off, Asami thought, rolling her eyes. She remembered her face was still of food and begin to chew as quickly as possible, swallowing hard and slurping down water from the bottle she had brought with her.

"So, um," she said, wiping her face with the back of her hand. "Did I hurt you earlier?"

"Only my pride," he replied good naturedly.

They sat there quietly for a few minutes, Asami taking much smaller bites of her sandwich.

"So," she said finally. "I wasn't expecting you to still be here when we got back from the South Pole."

He grimaced. "I busted a couple ribs while fighting Amon's Equalists. I'm out of commission for a while."

"Did you ask Korra to look at them? She can heal injuries with waterbending."

"She's already done as much as she could. She was a bit busy when I was going through the worst of it, so she got there kinda late."

"I'm sorry."

"It's all right. It doesn't hurt too much anymore."

"You probably shouldn't have been training with me today."

He frowned. "You're probably right."

She looked up at him. He was cute even when he frowned. His eyebrows furrowed in a way that was pretty adorable.

"Would you—" Something caught in her throat. She was trying to ask him out to dinner or something in the city. But nothing would come out. Her words had left her. Iroh stared down at her, one of those thick eyebrows raised slightly. Blinking furiously, she shook her head and muttered, "I have to go."

She stuffed the rest of her sandwich in her mouth and one go and stood up quickly, immediately launching into a run. She didn't stop until she reached her room, where she closed her door shut and fell back against it, sliding to the floor. Her cheeks were still full of her sandwich, so she chewed and swallowed it with a great deal of difficulty.

Why? Why had she run away like that? She had never in her life felt less than confident when it came to asking somebody out. Yet something had stopped her dead in her tracks. She drew her knees up to her chest and buried her face in her arms. It was obvious.

Mako.

It's not like she still had feelings for him. And also it wasn't that she didn't still have feelings for him. She did and she didn't, and it was awful. He had shoved her to the side pretty easily, or so it seemed. What if that happened again? It would be unbearable.

She took a deep breath. She was not about to cry. The heat in her face was unbearable though. Iroh must have been completely bewildered at what had happened. He was probably still sitting there in shock, thinking she was some kind of crazy person. Apologizing was going to be uncomfortable. Maybe she could just hide in her room all day, buried under the blankets.

Yes, she thought, sliding over to her bed. That is exactly what she should do.

After several hours of lying there staring at the ceiling, Asami threw off her blankets in defiance. She was not one to just give up. She could fix this. She could fix everything.

There was a small desk on one side of the room, and she had her things into a sort of vanity area, with a small mirror propped up in the center. There was small lamp next to it as well, which she clicked on. Light bounced off the cases of various beauty items, make-up and nail polish and hairbrushes, shiny with their glass and polished wood. She let her hair down and shook it loose around her shoulders, flipping it around as she looked at herself in the mirror. She looked down at her feet, and noticed the nail polish on her toenails was chipped. Well, she could start there and work up.

Nail polish remover? She carefully picked out a new color-a soothing blue-and shook the bottle vigorously.

After a few minutes of calmly working on her left foot, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Asami said, trying to sound cheery.

The door slid open, and Korra peeked her head in a bit shyly. "Hey, Asami, are you okay? I wanted to check on you because you missed dinner."

"Oh," said Asami. She hadn't realized. "I wasn't feeling well. But don't worry, I'm a lot better now."

"Good to hear it," Korra said. She shuffled her feet a little awkwardly. "What are you doing?"

"Just putting nail polish on."

Korra wrinkled her nose. "On your feet?"

"Yeah, didn't you ever want your toes to look nice?"

"We didn't go barefoot much at the South Pole. It's pretty cold down there," Korra said, looking around the room. "When I was learning earthbending, my feet nearly froze off."

"You learned earthbending barefoot?"

"Apparently that's the best way to learn," Korra said. She was inching her way into the room more and more.

Asami noticed this, and was slightly amused. "Do you want to come in?"

"Well, I don't want to bother you," Korra said, but she stepped in a bit more confidently now.

"It's fine. Come, sit down."

"Okay," Korra replied. She moved to the center of the room where Asami was sitting. Some of the blankets had been pulled off the bed when Asami had staggered out of them, and now they were in the middle of the floor. Korra bunched up a blanket and held it to her chest.

"So," she said, stretching out one leg and displaying her foot. "What color do you think would suit me best?"

Asami pursed her lips for a second, thinking. "How about blue? It's a good color for you."

"I wear blue all the time. It's a Water Tribe thing."

"How about red? I think you make a better firebender, to be honest."

Korra grinned. "I get that a lot."

Asami pulled one of Korra's feet into her lap. "Hold still."

She felt Korra's leg tense. "Why, does it hurt?"

"No, don't be ridiculous. But you want the polish on the toenails, not the toes."

"Right," Korra said. Managing to relax a little, she leaned back and rested the weight of her upper body on her arms. The very light sensation of the nail polish brush was soothing. "Have you done this a lot?"

"Not on other people. I don't have any sisters, and I didn't have a lot of friends to practice on either."

"That's too bad."

"Well, I was the rich kid and everyone was kind of intimidated by me. And when I was a kid, I got into a lot of fights."

"Hey, me too!" Korra was suddenly very excited. "I didn't think we would have that in common."

"One time, I gave a kid a bloody nose because he took my scarf."

"That's nothing—this kid was making fun of the girls during waterbending training, so I 'accidentally' burned his eyebrows off."

They continued that way for a while, swapping stories of scraps with other kids. Usually the stories unfolded in the same way—the other kid was a brat, or a bully, and only got what was coming to them. Eventually they came to the conclusion that Korra still acted in a reactionary fashion to anything she perceived as injustice, while Asami was more willing to talk things out.

"You're no slouch, though. I saw how close you were to taking out General Iroh this morning."

Asami frowned. "I feel bad about that. He's still hurt."

"Really? How do you know?"

"He told me."

"Reallyyyyyyyyyyy?" Korra's grin was wide and loopy. "You mean during your lunch date?"

"It wasn't a date-" Asami pushed back a blush. With a quick shake of her head, she said, "Wait, how do you know about that?"

"Oh, I saw you two all cozy by the pond. Sitting awfully close to each other."

"He was just being polite," Asami said. She looked away from Korra, studying her handiwork. "All right, you're done. Just let them dry—don't get them dirty or let them touch anything."

"All right," replied Korra. She rolled onto her back. Thrusting her legs straight up into the air, she looked at her feet and wiggled her toes. They were long and had wide gaps between them, and the wiggling motions made Asami start laughing.

"You look like a monkeyrabbit," she told Korra.

"Oh yeah?" In one swift motion, Korra rolled back over and bounced up into a crouching position. One hand she let drag low to the ground, while with the other she held up two fingers behind her head, imitating the monkeyrabbit's long ears. She started stomping around a bit, than began making the strange, highly distinct noise monkeyrabbits are known for. "EeeeeeeeOOoooooooooooooooooo , EeeeeeeeOoooooooooOOOO."

Asami was in nearly in tears from laughter. "No, no, it's like this."

She put herself in a position that imitated Korra's. "EeeEeeeeEeeehhhOOoooooooooo," she cried.

"EeeEeeeeeEeeehhhOOooooooo," Korra joined in with her. Soon, they were doing it in unison, waddling around on crouched legs.

The door to Asami's room slid open with a loud CLACK. "What is going on in here?"

Tenzin stood there in his nightclothes, looking perturbed. He crossed his arms over his chest and frowned.

Still crouching, Korra and Asami turned to him and cried, "EeeEeeeeEeehhhOOOoooooo!"

They collapsed onto the floor in giggles, holding their stomachs.

"The two of you need to keep it down," said Tenzin. "You're acting like children."

As Korra started to argue with him, Asami pulled herself up into a normal sitting position. They may have been acting like children. But it was the most put together she had felt in a long time.


End file.
